Drew huffed impatiently, grabbed the door before it closed and stepped inside, leaving no choice but for Bas tofollow.
The air inside was set to blast furnace, the central bar area crowded and noisy, and nearly every one of the booths that ringed the room was occupied with people - mostly blue-collar guys still in work gear. Bas opened his mouth to speak again, but Drew had already spotted a well-dressed, brown-haired guy in the back booth. Bas recognized him from his onlinebio.
“Gary?” Drew said, holding out his hand in a friendly way as he reached the table. “DrewMcMann.”
Gary stood and shook Drew’s hand, then broke out into a wide grin that brightened his otherwise nondescript face. “Yeah, I recognize you. From Senator Shaw’s fundraiser a couple of months ago. I was there covering him as a probable presidential candidate. Can’t say I’m too unhappy to hear that the chatter about him possibly running has dieddown.”
Though he’d counted Emmett Shaw as family once upon a time, Bas was extremely glad to hear confirmation that the man’s political star had dimmed, even if it had been because his son had come out in the press, rather than because he’d been exposed for the murdering traitor hewas.
“No?” Drew asked. “I’d have thought a journalist would be excited for an opportunity to get to know someone early in the game likethat.”
“Ah, maybe. But as agayjournalist, I can’t be entirely objective about a guy who believes in conversion therapy, youknow?”
Drew chuckled and smiled his charming, megawatt smile, a smile Bas realized he hadn’t seen from Drew in… a really longtime.
“Sebastian Seaver,” he interrupted, sticking out his own hand. “Thanks for agreeing to meet withus.”
“Oh, my pleasure.” Gary turned toward him, shaking his hand briefly, before turning his attention back to Drew. “I was hoping I’d run into youagain.”
“Oh?” Drew said, his smile dimming somewhat as he shifted back into cagey lawyer mode. “Wanted information about SenatorShaw?”
Since both of the others were ignoring him, Bas shucked his overcoat and slid grumpily into the booth across from Gary, signaling to one of the harriedwaitresses.
“No,” Gary said. “God, no. We just didn’t get introduced at the fundraiser, and I felt like I’d missed my shot to get to know you better.” The grin he leveled at Drew was beyond friendly, and something about it made Bas grind histeeth.
Drew cleared his throat and slid into the booth next to Bas, while Gary resumed hisseat.
“That’s, ah… The feeling’s mutual,” Drew said, and while Bas watched, his best friendblushed.
Drew hardly everblushed.
“I mean,” Drew continued, waving a hand in the air the way he sometimes did when he was at a loss for words, “I really appreciated the interview you did with Cain. He’s a good friend ofmine.”
“Yeah? I like him. A good kid. I mean,man,” Garycorrected.
“I know what you mean.” Drew’s smile was warm, open. “It was hard for me to stop thinking of him as a kid, too, even though he’s grown up a lot in the last fewmonths.”
Gary’s eyes - a plain brown that actually, now that Bas thought about it, looked kind of beady in the low light of the bar - gleamed. “Pretty sure his boyfriend would be pretty happy if I never thought of Cain again,period.”
Drew laughed, soft andlow.
And suddenly Sebastian realized what was happening right in front of him. They wereflirting.Gary was fuckingflirtingwith Drew, and Drew was… Drew waslettinghim.
Bas signaled to the harried waitress once again. “Excuse me? I could really use a drink overhere.”
As he did, he spied a man sitting alone at a far table - an older guy with thinning sandy hair and light eyes - whose gaze was also locked on their table. Was everyone staring at Drew tonight? Had this always happened, and Bas had just been oblivious untilnow?
“Jesus. What iswiththis place?” hemuttered.
Gary spared him a confused glance, but his gaze returned to Drew with magnet-like accuracy. “So, Drew, what do you doexactly?”
Oh, like nosy Gary didn’tknow.
“He’s the head of the legal department at Seaver Tech,” Bas said impatiently. Someone needed to redirect this conversation. They were here for a fuckingpurpose, after all. “And he’s here because I asked him to come along. I had some questions about the assignment you were working before theSenator.”
Gary blinked, then finally managed to focus on Bas, looking back and forth between him and Drew with undisguised curiosity. “My investigation intoSILA?”
“Exactly,” Bas confirmed, his voice crisp and businesslike. He ignored the pointed look Drew shot him. “They’ve recently been mentioned in some business dealings of ours, and we wanted to learn more. Get the inside track, so tospeak.”
